BUSAN Universal Rail, Inc. (BURI) yesterday called on the Department of Transportation (DoTr) to conduct a system audit to validate the cause of service  disruptions at the Metro Rail Transit (MRT)-3 commuter line.

BURI, the rail line’s maintenance provider, has rejected claims by the DoTr that the company is responsible for MRT-3.

Undersecretary for Railways Cesar B. Chavez earlier submitted to the legal office of DoTr a paper of his office recommending that the contract of maintenance with BURI be terminated.

His paper cited, among others, failure to maintain safe and reliable train availability, citing derailment incidents, 98 service interruptions and 833 passenger unloading incidents, covering the January 2016 to July 2017 period. DoTr and BURI entered into a contract for the maintenance of MRT-3 in January 2016.

BURI said that as of Aug. 15, 2017, BURI’s fleet availability level for MRT-3 was 91.67%, higher than LRT-1’s 74.82% and LRT-2’s 66.67%. The company said fleet availability was 55% when BURI took over the maintenance contract.

Charles Mercado, a spokesperson for BURI, said in a statement: “Considering the difference in interpretation of the factual circumstances being used by DoTr as grounds for the termination of its contract, the dispute must be resolved following the contract-provided procedure through mutual consultation [and] through appropriate meetings.

BURI said it has formally notified the DoTr of its intention to avail of mutual consultation.

Mr. Chavez said in a text message to reporters: “I have… officially recommended the termination of the maintenance contract as I cannot countenance the poor maintenance works on the MRT-3 system which have led to 649 service interruptions and passenger unloading in 2016 and 284 in 2017, and worse, five train derailments in April and May 2017.”

“We have accordingly penalized BURI for these service interruptions, failure to comply with its obligation to ensure required number of trains available and failure to procure necessary spare parts which BURI willingly paid, thus admitting its failure to comply with its contractual obligations. At any rate, we will give BURI the right to explain its failure to comply with its maintenance works if that is what it wants,” Mr. Chavez said.

Mr. Chavez also said in a text message to BusinessWorld that DoTr is in the process of conducting the requested audit: “We are doing that (audit initiative) even without their suggestion.” — Patrizia Paola C. Marcelo

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR